Hurrah! Emmy smiles on ‘Lights’ leads, ‘Glee,’ newcomers

It’s about time! Texas high school football drama “Friday Night Lights” finally is getting the recognition it so deserves with two Emmy nominations in top acting categories.

For the first time since the Austin-filmed show bowed four seasons ago, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton netted best actor and actress Emmy nods for their performances as Coach Eric Taylor and wife Tami Taylor, respectively.

It’s a shame that the show itself (shown both on DirecTV and NBC), didn’t get another deserved nomination for best drama. But rather than dwell on that, let’s celebrate this new triumph.

Besides, the people of “Lights” always have been its brightest lights. Though Chandler and Britton have been incredibly strong in their roles since the beginning, this year they delivered especially powerful turns as two people challenged by every kind of conflict, personal and professional. The coach started a new football team from scratch in a school that not only was much poorer economically, but full of racial strife. His wife, who remained principal of the coach’s old school, had to cope with division at home, Dillon High, and a moral firestorm that threatened both her job and reputation.

What resulted were incredibly moving and memorable performances by both.

As for other surprises of today’s Emmy announcement, there weren’t many. For the most part, the usual suspects got nods:

For comedy, “30 Rock” and its lead actors; “The Office” and Steve Carell; “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Larry David; and “Monk’s” Tony Shaloub, who was recognized for the umpteenth time.

I’m sure nobody’s mouth fell open when these drama nominees were announced: “Mad Men” and its actors; “Lost” and its actors; and “Breaking Bad” and its cast.

However, adding sweet variations to this same old tune was lots of recognition of newcomers.

Groundbreaking musical comedy “Glee” topped the list of show nominations with 19 nods, including Best Comedy and actress (Lea Michele), actor (Matthew Morrison) and supporting players Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer. Wow! Not bad for a freshman series!

“Modern Family” – a hilarious celebration of today’s diverse and quirky family – also mercifully scored big with its nod for top comedy and lots of recognition for supporting players: Sofia Vergara; Julie Bowen; Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet.

“The Good Wife” was the one new show to get a nod for best drama. Its lead actress, Julianna Margulies, also got the recognition she deserved.

As for movies and miniseries, I was thrilled to see “The Pacific” clean up with a whopping 24 nominations, including one for best original miniseries, though it would have been even more satisfying to see some of its actors get nods for truly powerful performances.

Other happy nods: Claire Danes (lead actress, movie) gave us the goods with her astonishing portrayal of an autistic genius in “Temple Grandin.”

Edie Falco (lead actress, comedy) showed she’s as fine a comedic actress in “Nurse Jackie” as she is in drama.

Conan O’Brien seems to be getting the last laugh with his nod, while the man who took his NBC show away from him, Jay Leno, received nary a nomination. (David Letterman also was overlooked this go-round.)

Finally, Betty White ought to send a big smooch to San Antonio’s David Mathews for launching that Facebook campaign that successfully landed her on “Saturday Night Live.” Not only was her first-time “SNL” hosting gig a huge ratings success, but she got an Emmy nod to boot.